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Poster:	Lou Davenport	Date:	March 24, 2012 02:04:35pm
Forum:	GratefulDead	Subject:	Re: Serious question for musically inclined sorts...DEAD/nonDEAD

Hey, Tell! Here are some undigested thoughts on that.

First and foremost, the number of chords is kind of irrelevant IMO. Dark Star is two, I think (and that's before they go off into spaceland), but does that in any way express the number of melodic and rhythmic things going on, or the interplay between the musicians? I love the jams out of Alligator (up to the BYG part) in part because they're jamming ON NOTHING AT ALL! There's no musical content besides what they happen to come up with in the moment. There's a key signature, so I guess there's one chord, but there certainly isn't a chord progression. Someone who's looking for a song structure is bound to find that frustrating, but they've simply wandered into the wrong room.

Second, I haven't listened to much live Cream (the two sides on Wheels of Fire and a bit else), but what I've listened to doesn't interest me much. What interest I have found in their live music comes from Bruce and Baker. I've always thought Clapton was way over-rated, which is really just a way of saying that what he plays doesn't interest me personally. I love Bruce's vocals, bass playing, and song-writing, but it's always been his studio work that interests me. I like Baker's double-bass-drum power work, but I think he goes on longer than he really should--both live and on Ginger Baker's Air Force.

I think comparing Jack Bruce and Phil, or Ginger Baker and Bill, is like comparing pad thai and ice cream. I like them both, but they serve different functions. That said, I do think that there's more musical content in Phil's bass playing than in Jack's, and more rhythmic content in Bill's drumming than in Ginger's; and that shows up especially in the subtle interplay of ensemble improvisation. I'd certainly find more hours a week of enjoyment out of live GD than out of the studio tracks on Disraeli Gears or Wheels of Fire--or even Songs for a Tailor--but those latter albums provide a form of pleasure all their own.